Research has shown that an occupant who is left in a closed, parked vehicle for an extended amount of time on a hot or sunny day may face the possibility of suffering from a physical injury due to the heat and humidity that may be present in the automobile. Several types of products are available that provide various safety features intended to prevent injuries of these types. One common product used by drivers or adults responsible for transporting children is a child safety seat.
For the most part, child safety seats have been designed to accommodate and protect a child in the event of a vehicular collision. In recent years, child seat technology has become more sophisticated. Some child seats are now configured to detect the presence of a child in the child seat. Other child safety seats may operate in conjunction with some type of wireless transceiver, wherein the child seat sends signals to the transceiver relating to the presence of a child within the seat.
Although child seat assemblies of these types are useful, they may present certain drawbacks. For example, the wireless transceiver is typically capable of being carried from location to location. Thus, if a driver is in possession of the transceiver and fails to provide it to a subsequent driver, the subsequent driver may not receive the alert from the transceiver. Therefore, the subsequent driver will not be notified or reminded of the presence of the occupant in the vehicle. Moreover, because the wireless transceiver is transportable, it may become misplaced or may be lost.
Furthermore, child seat assemblies of this type are not useful in the protection of other occupants, such as older children or persons who do not fit into the child seat and who may be inadvertently left in an unattended, closed vehicle.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a system that is capable of alerting a person or driver who is outside of an automobile to an occupant inside of the automobile. In addition, it is desirable to provide an alert system that is useful for all drivers who operate the automobile. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.